Life’s Soundtracks – King King and Dave Gunning

King King’s Blues and Dave Gunning’s Folk Provide the Soundtracks for  my  Commute to Paulsboro

It seems that lately a good portion of the music I listened to is heard on my commutes to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver. Now as best as I can remember Wednesday soundtracks were a blues album Reaching for the Light from the Scottish blues band King King and the afternoon on the afternoon trip a folk album from Canadian folksinger Dave Gunning. The album was Lift  his 11th album. Read More

Weekly Update Part 1 – The Books

An Update of The Books I Am Reading and What’s on the Horizon!

So last week was as busy as I thought it would be! It started Monday with a short stint babysitting granddaughter Zoe. Then Tuesday at Target, Wednesday with Oliver, Thursday back to Target, Friday half-day with Oliver made longer by Da’s mistake of allowing Oliver and I to sit in the car for a few minutes, whereby he turned some light on that I didn’t notice, which left me with a dead battery, when I went to leave. Can you say those who don’t learn from the past, are condemned to repeat it! Anyway it  was back to Target on Saturday. Actually, it was pretty much a standard week wasn’t it….well, you can add in that by Friday I wasn’t feeling my best. I do believe that I have finally caught a milder version of the sinus and cold that his plagued my wife and daughter over the last two weeks. Anyway let’s recap what I did over the week past….. Read More

John Sherrington Gottlieb?? Who Knew!

RGranddad Adds  New Cousins from the Gottlieb Family!

So the name John Sherrington Ashton has a nice British ring to it, don’t you think!  Well, it should my family immigrated from Lincolnshire, England in 1851. But how about the name John Sherrington Gottlieb!! Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it does it. But through the wonders of Ancestry and DNA testing.  I have discovered that he does have a branch on my family tree! Read More

Hattie Caraway – First Woman Elected to the US Senate!

On January 12, 1932 – Hattie Caraway became the First Woman Elected to the US Senate!!

On this day, January 12th in 1932 Hattie Caraway became the first woman elected to the United States Senate!! Caraway was the wife of Arkansas politician Thaddeus Caraway. Her husband was elected to the House of Representatives in 1912 and served as a Representative until 1921,. He became a Senator in that year and served in that capacity until he died in office in 1931. It had been a precedent at that time that the widows were appointed to temporarily take their husbands positions. Following that precedent Governor Harvey Parnell appointed Hattie Caraway to the vacant seat and she was sworn in to office on December 9th of 1931. Caraway with the backing of the Arkansas Democratic party easily won the special election held in 1932 for the remaining months of the term and became the first women elected to the Senate! Read More

A Sunday Music and Reading Challenge Update!

A Busy Week – A Trip to Princeton Record Exchange, Two Books Finished and Books added to my Reading Challenges!

Last week was a busy one. My wife has been sick all week, most likely the result of kissing sick babies! Anyway I worked my two weekday and weekend shifts at Target, but since Oliver’s momma was home recovering from thyroid surgery I only babysat  on Friday! Read More

EKK Rants About Missing Art of Compromise!

Reading In Retrospect leads to thoughts about Government and Compromise

 
So I have not ever been a fan of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The obvious reason, he was Defense Secretary, at the beginning and the height of the war in Vietnam, in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But as I  read his autobiography In Retrospect The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, I realize that the administrations that he served in were really in a no-win situation in Vietnam, and that he and others may have kept the US from being involved in the war far earlier. He also admits that the course the US chose concerning the war was the wrong one! At one point, he reveals for the first time what he thought John Kennedy would have done regarding the situation in Vietnam .. Read More

A SIxties Man Rants About Missing Art of Compromise!

Reading In Retrospect leads to thoughts about Government and Compromise

So I have not ever been a fan of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The obvious reason, he was Defense Secretary, at the beginning and the height of the war in Vietnam, in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But as I  read his autobiography In Retrospect The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, I realize that the administrations that he served in were really in a no-win situation in Vietnam, and that he and others may have kept the US from being involved in the war far earlier. He also admits that the course the US chose concerning the war was the wrong one! At one point, he reveals for the first time what he thought John Kennedy would have done regarding the situation in Vietnam .. Read More

Reading Challenges for 2016

Renaissance Granddad’s 2016 Reading Challenges!

Well last year was the first time that I set a goals for both the overall number of books that I was going to read in the year and the types of books. I signed up for three reading challenges: Cloak and Dagger, Historical Fiction, and Nonfiction and created one of my own Science Fiction. While I kept track of the number of books I had read for each challenges I never posted at the websites where I had signed up for the challenges. I guess I should have but I was one of the few men who signed up for the challenges, so I felt kinda alone and funny posting! Also I’m lazy and a loner so it was easier just to post about the books I was reading here! Read More